Clinton Questions Hedge Fund Managersâ Work Ethics

Hedge funds may be funding much of her campaign and footing her daughterâs bills, but Sen. Hillary Clinton still finds fault.

Suggesting that hedge fund managers and Wall Street executives donât work as hard as the common man, the Democratic presidential candidateâwho has now lost nine consecutive primaries and caucuses to rival Sen. Barack Obamaâtook her message of tax fairness to Ohio, where she hopes a strong showing in that crucial stateâs March 4 primary will reignite her campaign.

âWe also have to reward work more, and by that, I mean, I have people in New York working on Wall Street as investment managers, as hedge fund executives,â Clinton said at a restaurant in Parma, Ohio, yesterday. âUnder the tax code, they can pay a lower percentage of their income in taxes on $50 million, than a teacher, or a nurse, or a truck driver in Parma pays on $50,000. Thatâs very discouraging to people.â

âYou just feel like, âwait a minute, Iâm working as hard as I can,ââ she said. âAll those people you see in your law office, theyâre working as hard as they can and they feel like theyâre just getting further and further behind.â

Clinton has supported efforts in Congress to more than double the amount hedge fund and private equity managers pay in income taxes.